The Home Caregiving Grant, Explained

How much you get

The Home Caregiving Grant (HCG) is a monthly cash payout for families caring for someone with lasting care needs. As published in August 2026, it pays $600 a month for households with a monthly income per person of $1,500 or less (or a home Annual Value of $21,000 or less), $400 for $1,501–$3,600, and $200 for $3,601–$4,800. The maximum was raised to $600 in April 2026.

The payout bands at a glance

Income per person means total household income divided by the number of people living in the home — so a larger household on the same total income often lands in a higher payout band. If nobody in the household has an income, the assessment uses the home's Annual Value instead.

Who qualifies

• The person cared for is a Singapore Citizen, or a PR with a Citizen parent, child or spouse.
• Monthly household income per person is $4,800 or less.
• They permanently need help with at least three of the six activities of daily living.
• They live in the community — not in a nursing home or other residential care.

What 'help with daily activities' means

The six activities of daily living are bathing, dressing, feeding, toileting, moving around, and getting on or off a bed or chair. Needing permanent help with at least three of them is the threshold, and it's confirmed by a short assessment — usually arranged through the hospital before discharge, or through a GP.

How to apply

Apply online through eFASS using Singpass, or email a hardcopy form to apply@aic.sg. The Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) runs the means-testing and assessment, and processing usually takes up to four weeks. If you're being discharged from hospital, ask the ward's care team to start the assessment before you go home.

What you can spend it on

The HCG is a cash payout, not a voucher tied to an approved provider. That is the practical difference between it and subsidised care: nobody dictates how you spend it, and there is no provider list to choose from. Families commonly put it towards nursing visits, a caregiver's wages, consumables and equipment, or transport to appointments.

How it fits with home nursing

Because the grant is cash and paid monthly, it works best against a recurring cost. A weekly catheter or dressing change, for instance, is the kind of predictable expense a $400 or $600 monthly payout meaningfully offsets.

The timing is the thing to plan around. Processing takes roughly four weeks, so the grant almost never arrives in time for the care needed immediately after a discharge. Many families start private home nursing straight away — it has published prices and can begin at once — and let the grant offset the ongoing cost once it comes through.

Before you apply — worth checking

• The three-of-six daily-activities threshold is the usual sticking point. It is about permanent need for help, not a temporary post-surgical period.
• Get the assessment started in hospital if you can. The ward's care team can begin it before discharge, which removes weeks from the process.
• Household income per person is assessed across everyone living in the home — gather those details before you start the form, not halfway through.
• Someone in a nursing home or other residential care is not eligible; the grant is for people cared for in the community.

Where it sits among the other schemes

The HCG is one of several forms of help, and it stacks with most of them rather than replacing them. AIC-subsidised home nursing lowers the price of the visit itself; MediSave Care lets those with severe disability draw a monthly sum from MediSave; CareShield Life pays out on a successful severe-disability claim; and Pioneer and Merdeka Generation seniors get additional support on top. Our subsidies overview sets out all of them side by side.

Common questions